Europe regulator: next bank stress test to focus on Basel III

FRANKFURT

FRANKFURT Nov 20 European bank stress tests
scheduled for next year will test progress among Europe's
lenders toward implementing new capital rules using a common
rule book, Andrea Enria, chairman of the European Banking
Authority (EBA) said on Tuesday.

"We need to manage a shift of focus from a one-off
recapitalization effort to developing the path for full
implementation of Basel III standards. We are structuring the
stress test of next year along these lines," Enria said.

Because responsibility for supervising European banks is
being handed over to the European Central Bank, the EBA was
seeking to ensure consistent regulation by working on a common
set of supervisory rules, Enria said.

Enria said the EBA was looking at how the array of U.S.
banking supervisors approached their task and was developing a
common manual to be used by supervisors around Europe.
(Reporting By Edward Taylor, Jonathan Gould, Eva Kuehnen)